My Two Struggles With Evangelism Approaches

   Over the years, I have seen the word 'evangelism' defined many different ways. I have seen open air workers, people on missions trips, people inviting others to a church outreach, or one on one evangelism. According the the Proclaim Course book, there is a chapter dedicated to helping a person learn what their evangelism style is. I really like this book and if there is ever a way that you can take this course, take it! Here is the url with some resources on it: Proclaim Course
   While I understand that people have different personalities and giftings, and God uses all of our talents and strengths to serve Him with, I see some misunderstandings with the whole concept of evangelism. I see groups of people who believe that they should just get right to the point of sharing the Gospel with people. In some ways, this sounds admirable, but if we look closer to this, is this really a good Biblical method that we should employ? Here is an example of what I am talking about; I read on the internet somewhere, about a group of people going to a Third World country to share the Gospel with people there. They boasted that they were not there to bring water bottles to the people, nor were they there to build houses. They believed that their only job was to preach the Gospel, then return home. I wonder what the people thought of them while they were presenting the Gospel? I have also heard some people say something like, 'The best way to show a person love, is to preach the Gospel to them'. Well yes, the Gospel is their most important need, but could we show a person respect and honor by talking with him or her and asking questions? How about showing hospitality to someone or helping them with an immediate need that they might have? What if a person doesn't have a place to stay, or if he is out in the cold, and we share the Gospel with him, yet we don't even offer a blanket to him on a cold night? Does this seem ethical? There are a lot of people, even in our own cities, that don't have much to eat. Wouldn't it go a long way for us to give them a loaf of bread or something to eat while we explain the Gospel to them? James talks about us seeing people who are in need, yet neglecting them, and asks us the question, 'What good is it?'. So we have to ask ourselves if we are really showing love to people when we only preach the Gospel to them, while they could be very hungry or cold. Will they really think that we love them? Wouldn't it be helpful to show them a tangible way of our love and care for them? (Note: I am not saying that we should try to take care of every homeless or hungry person around. The devil will also trick us into feeling guilty for not helping everyone in need).
   The other struggle I have is the other extreme of this. I believe that, many times, this one starts off with good intentions, but falters in the end. There is a saying that is attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, but no one really knows who said this quote. It goes something like this; "Preach the Gospel. And when necessary, use words". At first, it sounds like a contradictory statement. How can you preach the Gospel without using words? But what I think a lot of people base their understanding of this phrase upon, is the Bible verse that talks about women who have unbelieving husbands, winning their husbands to the Lord without saying a word. "Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 1 Peter 3:1,2 ESV.  While I think it is very effective to live out the word of God, it seems to me that these husbands have heard the word already, and haven't responded to the Gospel yet, and the wives are instructed to live out the word of God before them. This is wisdom. The husbands might respond to the Gospel later on. If the unbelieving husband has already heard the word of God, God is already at work in his heart. As the unbelieving husband sees the grace of God in the life of his wife, he can make the connections better. 
   I think people intend to share the Gospel with others, but feel an obligation to serve them first. This really in itself is a great idea. But rarely will a Christian ever get to share the Gospel with someone after meeting a new person and befriending or serving. But we say that the unbelievers will watch our lives and could be saved. It really can happen, but most of the time, it doesn't. I know from my own experience that this method is very hard to do. We rarely get to the place where we speak the word of life to them.
    I have always wanted to reach my neighbors with the Gospel, so I would bake things for them and try to visit them when I can. But it seems like the more intimate I get with each one, the harder it is to share the Gospel message with them. It seems like a major task to make friends with someone, then to present the Gospel to them. I have yet to sit down and talk with my neighbors about the Gospel. Only one time has the conversation opened up for me to do that, and that was because the other person asked me about what kind of a church I go to. I didn't know right off the bat what to say, so I explained the Gospel and said that that was what our church believed in. But I still do want to serve my neighbors and perhaps one day, I will get the chance to speak to them about the Gospel. 
   So, one struggle is that we just, upfront, preach the Gospel, without anything extra attached, kind of like a robotic method, and the other is the struggle of believing that people will see how I live my life and they will get the Gospel message from that. The Bible talks a lot about serving people. It can really lend itself to preaching the Gospel, although it doesn't replace the work of actual evangelism. So, let's love people and serve them, and let's make sure they hear the Gospel message using words from our lips as well.

A Lesson From A Television Show

This is probably the silliest blog I will ever write. First of all, I rarely watch TV. The only shows I watch are Jeopardy and The Way of the Master. Sometimes, I will watch parts of Wheel of Fortune too. After Wheel of Fortune is over, I either change the channel or turn the TV off unless someone is watching it.
  However, tonight I forgot to change the channel. I was busy working on a variety of things, and something on the TV caught my attention. There were two women talking and one was angry with the other one. The angry lady told the other lady that she was a horrible Christian. She was irate, and I had to figure out what this was all about.
  As I watched this program, it had to do with two families, who were about as opposite as any two could be. One family was professing Christians, who felt like God was leading them to go back to a lifestyle that would teach ethics and Godly principles to their children. Their work ethic was commendable. They went from the city to a farm, and made everything from scratch. I appreciate what they were doing, but I think they went a little bit too far. I don't think they even had electricity! The children were homeschooled and were taught to work hard. They appeared to be a very close knit family. There were six children in this family, and they all ate dinner together, which surprised the other family.
   The other family was very different. They had one child. They did not have meals together, and the mom was busy with things that she was doing, and was not into managing her home. Their little boy was mainly raised by a man named 'Princess' who was gay. The dad did not lead the home and did not spend much time with his son. Princess lived with the family and was like a family member. The son was disrespectful to adults and basically got his way in whatever he wanted, and had very little, if any, parental supervision.
  Please bear with me as I tell this story from my perspective. There is a point that I want to make at the end that can help us in the area of evangelism. The Christian family came close to missing this opportunity and I will explain why later.
   The mom who lived on the farm stayed with the family with the one disrespectful son. This mom appeared very intelligent, and did a good job in explaining to this family what they were doing wrong. This mom was not impressed with 'the good life' as she had a facial done at a spa. She confronted the dad about his lack of leadership, and wanted Princess to leave. Princess pleaded with her and she consented to allow him to stay. She was very firm, but was open to changing her mind about things if she could have been wrong about something. She taught the little boy how to be respectful. She really was a help to this family, but I think she came on a little strong. The family seemed open to her critiques, but she didn't seem very approachable to them.
   The mom who lived in the city went crazy when she got to the farm. She thought that the children were too sheltered and lived too primitively. She dressed rather risque, and the man who lived in that home (the farm) openly rebuked her because of her immodest dress. I'm glad he stood up to her in that. She bought all the kids video games, and a big screen TV for the family. She wanted to make sure that these kids did not miss out on anything. She took them out shopping for clothing as well. She also tried to take the man out to a bar, but he refused. One of the funniest things she did was to bring in a microwave. The family did not use a microwave oven, because microwaves kill anything living inside of food. But the city mom brought it in anyway, against the man's wishes. She definitely had not learned the role of being a submissive wife to her husband! And now in this man's house, she was going to call all the shots. The man had to hold his tongue when it came to issues like the microwave and TV coming into the house! It was a very good lesson in self control, I'm sure.
   When the families were reunited with each other, something had actually happened in the heart of the woman who lived in the city. When she first came to the house on the farm, she was irate. She couldn't understand why in the world anyone would live like this. She had every intention of changing it, at least for the time she was there. She made an interesting comment when she first got there. It had to do with the fact that everyone was affectionate and they all ate their meal together. At this point, she thought this was stupid. She said that her family was not affectionate and they didn't eat their meals together. But after the time was over, she was really touched by how this family on the farm lived out their lives. When the two couples were together talking about what they learned while the women were at each other's houses, the lady from the city learned that she needed to spend more time with her son. She shared many things that she learned from being in the house on the farm.
   But the problem I have with this is, the lady on the farm, who made mention that she reads the Bible faithfully, was not really kind to the other woman. She asked her bluntly why she dressed the way she did. Her attitude didn't come off right, although I think her heart was probably in the right place. The city lady got irate and told the other woman, 'You are a horrible Christian'. I personally believe that the city woman was affected by the things she saw in the farm house. She told of all the things she learned while she was there, but the Christian woman just affirmed her disdain for her the city life and luxuries, and reaffirmed her love of the way she does things at her home. She rebuked the father of the boy who was a brat, because the father lacked taking leadership and didn't discipline his son. The son actually ended up apologizing to the lady on the farm, and this city family really seemed to be humbled.
   After the show was over, the was a little recap and update. It said that the lady on the farm was sorry about being harsh with the lady from the city. I hope that they could become friends and that the lady on the farm could minister the Gospel to her. She probably never had much of a family life and is really living in darkness. This was the closest she had been to seeing what life was like, when it is being lived out in the light (although the farm family didn't have electricity!). The best the she will ever have on earth is money, clothing, entertainment, and status. What a great opportunity for people to see the Gospel at work!
   The point is, our lives are going to be different than the lives of people who live in the dark. They are not going to understand why we do things the way we do, nor will they understand the power of God at work in our hearts. But that isn't a reason to give up on people! You really don't know who is watching you to see if what you have is real. But if you snap at them and do not accept them, they will never feel comfortable around you.
   In the video "I Got off At George Street", a man named Frank Jenner gave tracts out every day to people. He went to a busy part of town and gave tracts to people and asked them if they were to die, would they go to heaven? He never heard of anyone responding to his tracts. But here's what actually happened; People received the tracts and were disturbed by his comments and questions. They would take the tract home (many lived in places other than Sydney), and think about what he told them. Then, they would find a Christian friend, or church they were familiar with, and ask questions. They knew their Christian friends and felt comfortable asking them questions about the tract or the Gospel. Many came to Christ that way. They didn't go to Frank Jenner or even write to the tract company. They went to a friend, someone they trusted. Can we be a friend to lost people, and can they feel comfortable with us, and would they feel free to ask us questions about the Gospel? Or, would they be apprehensive about asking us questions because they are not sure we will accept them? Do they perceive us as kind and loving, or do we appear to them stiff?
  One more thing comes to my mind. I heard of a Christian woman who lived in a neighborhood, and she got to know her neighbors well. She took the initiative to befriend each one. She learned when their birthdays were and had birthday parties for the. She must have taken a lot of time getting to know her neighbors. After a period of time, some of them came to Christ! Some of them started going to church with her. This woman truly loved her neighbors! Can we be like this?
  For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.  For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;  and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 2 Corinthians 5:13-15 ESV

Tracts at Work

I thought this was interesting and wanted to share it with you all. It is a note written by a woman, I believe her name is Brianna, who bought a 6-pack of beer recently and found a Gospel tract inside. While I am not fond of the idea of putting tracts inside of items at a store, it appears that God used this one to minister to this woman. Here is what she wrote to the company the publishes this particular tract:

  "I just wanted to let yall know i found your tract in my case of beer.. It shocked me but this was just what i needed. I dont have a relationship with God but i want one. Im having trouble giving up my sinful habit of drinking.. it controls every aspect in my life. It could not of been more perfect for me to of found this where i did. If thats not a sign idk what is. Its hard going throuh things by yourself but i appreciate you for taking the time to leave this. It does more good than you know and gives so much hope."

   I have heard Christians say, occasionally, that no one gets saved by reading a tract. I wonder where they get this information from. If the tract is interesting and informative, and God is working in the recipient's heart, why wouldn't someone come to Christ by reading a tract? I will say that a person does have to have enough background information in order to understand the Gospel first. That is why we do evangelism. One person preaches the Gospel. Another one preaches the Gospel. Another gives out a tract. If everyone does their part, people will hear the Gospel, by different means, and if God is at work in the person's heart, he or she will come to Christ. We sow the seed. God does the saving. Everyone does his or her part in the kingdom of God, when it comes to evangelism, and many will come to Christ as a result.

   And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”  Matthew 9:35-38 ESV

The Power of Prayer and the Privilege of Praying

   As I get older, I am seeing more and more of the kingdom of God unfold. More and more of the Bible makes sense, and the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place and forming a clearer picture.
   In our Christian, or church life world, we are very sheltered. We tend to not see the evil that is going on in the world. The Bible describes evil and we are to be fighting against it. One of the spiritual weapons we are to use is prayer. I think, to some, this sounds too simplistic though.
   Prayer involves faith. It is not just mumbling a set of words to God every day, telling Him what we want and need. We are in a spiritual battle, and God doesn't want us to be ignorant of the devil's devices (or tricks).
   The devil would like nothing more than to lie to each one of us. The Bible says he is the 'Father of lies'. He tells us that everything is ok, when things are not ok. He tells us we are good, when we really aren't. He tells us that other people are good, when they aren't. How many times have we seen a murderer who has been arrested, have people defend him on television? "He wouldn't do anything like that." "He was a nice, quiet guy." "He wouldn't hurt a fly." and other such sayings. That is because the murderer was created in God's image, and is capable of doing some good things. People who do good things, can also do very bad things.
  What I am thinking about today, is the need to pray for people to be able to escape the enslavement of the Sex-Trafficking dilemma. Young girls are molested and brought into this outside of their will. They become slaves to those who are controlling them, and can't get out. This is where we need to be praying. We need to pray for those who are holding them hostage, to let them go. We need to be praying that they will get caught, and that this evil work will not stay hidden.
   Let us not be so naive as to think that such things really don't happen. They do. As people move further and further away from God, we can expect more and more violence and terror out of our societies, even when we think they are safe.
   I am posting this article here, because this weekend, the Superbowl is taking place. Many Christians are excited because they are at the Superbowl evangelizing at this moment. They need our prayers. But while that is going on, there are people who remain hidden, but are gathered at this event, for the sole purpose of using young girls to be used in the sex-trade activity. The Bible says that our battle is not against flesh and blood. It is against the evil, spiritual world. It goes on to say that we need to be wearing the spiritual armor so we can fight in this battle. This is not a battle that we can take a large group of people with artillery prepared to fight against the leaders in the sex-trafficking network. We have to pray, diligently, because young women are being enslaved against their will and will be destroyed in the end, if they are not rescued. We need to intercede for them before it is too late.
   I am posting a url from a news article, told by a woman who got out of this trap. Please read it, and pray for God to intervene. If your daughter or granddaughter were to be taken by one of these monsters, you would do whatever you could to get your loved one back. Let's pray for the freedom for these captives, and let's pray for salvation to come to those who are far away and for the light of the Gospel to shine into the dark places.
   http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2013/02/former_sex_trafficking_victim.html#

                                                               

Evangelizing with a Headache

   As you may know, it seems to be hard for me to get out of the house because of a physical problem originally thought to be due to insomnia, but maybe more likely is due to chronic fatigue! Well, I am praying for help with this problem and would like to be able to go to the grocery store (or any store) and give out tracts while I pick up a few groceries.
  Yesterday was no different. I had been planning on going to pick up some spices at the spice store on Park Avenue in downtown Winter Park. As each day passed by, I just could never get out because I was too tired to make the trip. Now I am not planning on just picking up some spices while I'm there. I will also take advantage of walking down the road and passing out tracts, talking with whoever wants to talk about the Gospel. So, as I was planning my day out, I would have to leave earlier in the afternoon in order to do this. The afternoon was on its way out when I decided to just take an early nap and skip Park Avenue. I took a little nap and got up and decided anyway to go to Park Avenue and it was 3:30. That meant I probably wouldn't be home until around 6 pm though.
   I got in the car and found a parking place. It was great. The weather was beautiful, and people were around, but now I have this headache. So I walk down the street and try to give out tracts. No one responds. At least they were polite. One guy almost responded until I told him what the tract was. He said he was already a Christian and didn't need it. You have to keep in mind that most of the people who walk on this street are either retired, or fairly wealthy middle aged people. In their minds, they don't need the Gospel. But they really do, and even in a group of people who have that mentality, there may be one or two who will listen.
   I made my way to the other side and met a couple who were already trusting in the Lord, and got to know them a little. They were from Atlanta, and it was delightful to meet them. The man prayed for me before we parted. Then I met a young woman who was 'working on the railroad'. Actually, she was working by the railroad helping the construction workers by directing traffic when necessary. She was a joy to talk to. She loved the tract and was very grateful for it. I didn't get to talk to her at length, but we did get to talk for a few minutes. She was one of the most appreciate people, I think, in receiving a Gospel tract that I had run into.
  I did get to give out a couple of tracts and meet another Christian couple on this venture yesterday. And I did this all with a headache! I usually don't get headaches anymore, and am very grateful for that. It seems like when a person is obeying God, and communicating the truth of His word to others, the devil seems to attack. I know of one person who had cancer on his tongue. He could not preach for a long time because of all that was involved in that. Another person who loves sharing the Gospel developed health problems after a serious injury happened to him. He is trying hard to recover, but it is a long process. The devil isn't happy when people are preaching and proclaiming the Gospel. He will try to destroy the person or the credibility of the Gospel by causing that person to be tempted to sin. Many have been tricked into falling prey to Satan's traps, yet don't really understand that we are in a spiritual battle. We need to put on the spiritual armor described in Ephesians 6. We need to operate in Christ's love, by the power of the Holy Spirit in us. We need to keep our guards up so sin doesn't find its way in. We let sin in, so many times, because we listen to the lies of the Enemy of our souls. He knows exactly what lies we will believe, so they are custom made by the devil and sent to us, to keep us from obeying God and living out our lives for His glory.
   Be sober and vigilant because the devil is going around like a roaring lion, seeking to devour whoever he can. Be aware of what tactics the Enemy is using, in order to not fall prey to his deceptions. And, do not be surprised if you find sharing the Gospel is hard. One of the biggest tricks of the devil that we have in America today is the belief that, if something is hard, we should find an easy way out of it. We shun difficulties. That's why the divorce rate is so high. Making a marriage work is hard. Because it's hard, we think we should get out of it. We are not taught to work through our problems. Working through our problems is part of developing spiritually. God uses our difficulties, not to punish us or discourage us, but to teach us how to work through them and it helps us to learn to trust God more. That is how our faith grows. And God is pleased with our faith. That is the only way He can use us as we seek to serve Him in this life, and bring glory to His name.
   I don't know what, if any, eternal results will come from yesterday's adventure. But I will obey God and trust Him to provide opportunities to proclaim His greatness and share the Gospel with other. The results are His. It will be interesting, on the other side of eternity, to see the fruit of our labors. Meanwhile, we just occupy until He comes, or until our lives comes to a close on earth.

Whistle Blower or Slanderer?

I don't really know where to put this post, and I know it is very long, but this is something that is on my heart and has been for some time. When do we blow the whistle on someone in the church who is doing wrong? Does this ever become slander? These are questions I have wrestled with for the past couple of years. I have to honestly admit, I have been guilty of participating in slander, not because I enjoyed doing it, but I thought I was doing something right. Then I realized I was talking in a negative way about some Christians because other Christians were saying those things about them. I was just copying what I heard, not what I knew to be true (I had not researched the subject enough to know what was true and was wasn't).

Whistle Blower or Slanderer?

   In the circles I am in, there is a lot of talk today about false prophets, false teachers and heresy. This seems to be a lively topic in many of the forums I’m part of. What is it about this subject that is so intriguing anyway?

   The Bible instructs us on dealing with heresy and false teachers. I found some verses relating to this subject here (http://www.openbible.info/topics/judging_false_teachers):

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” 1 John 4:1 ESV

“I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.” Romans 16:17,18 ESV

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Matthew 7:15

“If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.” 2 John 1:10

   So, the Bible addresses the problem of heresy and gives us instruction on how to respond to it. We don’t invite false teachers into our homes (making them feel welcomed), we are to avoid them, and beware of them. The apostles knew that when they would be gone from the churches they established, that these ‘wolves’ would come in to destroy the flock, so they prepared the churches they were writing to for that time.

   Before I get to the next point of this article, I want to clarify the fact that the church today, especially as we see it lived out in America, is much different than it was in its beginning days. Part of that has to do with the advancement of technology, but some of it has to do with the way society has evolved down through the years. This makes it harder for us to understand just exactly how heresy affects the church today. For example, we could have a profession Christian singer who has come out of the closet and announced that he is Gay and not ashamed of it. How do we deal with that as a local church? Many times, the professing Christian singer isn’t part of a church. Or he may be part of a church that doesn’t value sound doctrine and will not deal with the issue of immorality. So what do we do to help this person see his sin? Sadly, there really isn’t any valid place for him to get help unless he wants it and is asking for it.

   In a normal church setting, the directions in Matthew 18 will be carried out. The professing Christian singer would be confronted with his sin. He would be forced to deal with the issues at hand, whether to repent or to continue in sin. Further steps could be taken such as telling this issue to the whole church and finally excommunication. That is the way situations like this Christian singer should be handled, but unfortunately, the body of Christ as a unit is not strong enough to carry out this work of service. Plus, as I said earlier, many people won’t get involved in a church for a variety of reasons.

   So, that takes us to another step that really isn’t in the Bible, and that is to take what this person is doing and communicate it to the church community, in whatever ways this community uses to communicate with. I have seen this one as well. I have seen a Godly man who has a profound ministry and who has worked with similar ministries and build friendships with people in those ministries. That part of it is great. These people worked together in ministry (although their ministries were separate) and learned from each other while supporting each other. Then one day, this Godly man decided that certain Christians that disagreed with him about a theological issue, were heretics and believed in another god. The other party tried to work with him but he wasn’t willing to respond. What was wrong with this picture? The two parties should have worked to resolve the issue. But what ended up happening was that people who supported both of these ministries, were made aware of the division that had occurred. In that particular kind of ministry, there is now a division. Word of this division spread quickly through forums such as Facebook and blogs. This whole issue should have been handled through the local church.

  People make mistakes and go astray. That is why we are called sheep, and why we have a shepherd. You might be asking at this point, what does this have to do with whistle blowing?

   Here is the issue; We have great technology today. I can share the Gospel with someone around the world in five minutes or less. With this technology though, there are trade offs. One of them is that the door is open for us to slander. We are all tempted to slander. Something in our wicked hearts loves to talk about other people, and even put them in a bad light. We light to spend time picking people apart. Many times we think we are whistle blowing when we are really slandering.

  When Harold Camping made his predictions of the day the world would end, he was the talk of the town. Many, many posts on Facebook discussed his so called prophesy. No harm done. We need to discuss things like this. But there comes a time when we are beating a dead horse. How many times do we have to rehash this issue? It is not only this one. I see posts every day about some new false teacher. When does whistle blowing become slander?

   I don’t know how many times I have seen things like this; Rick Warren is a false teacher, Joyce Meyer is a heretic, Phillips, Craig, and Dean are heretics. Come on. If they are heretics (and it is possible that they are), why isn’t the reason given for their being a heretic? I see names coming up all the time, followed by ‘is a false teacher’. How do you know? Why is there so much time spent on this? There are ministries that specialize in this subject and it seems that we should just let them do their job and use their resources when needed. And when the communication of a heretic is done, it doesn’t have to be rehashed or recycled.

   Someone posted a book on Facebook, that he was using in a Bible study. It was written by a well known Christian pastor. He was recommending the book, and there were several comments that followed his post. One woman implied that this pastor was not a true Christian. The poster asked her if she had ever read any of his books, to which she replied that she didn’t have time for that. The conversation continued. It was apparent that this woman who was accusing this pastor of not being a true Christian, didn’t have anything to back her claim. I am sure I know what happened. She heard other Christians say that this pastor was not a true Christian, so she felt a freedom to do this. Never do this though. If you are sure a person is a false teacher or heretic, research the person and find out for yourself before you make a claim that the person is a heretic.

   Yes, there are times to bring heresy out in the open. There are false teachers out there that would love to destroy the Gospel that you love. They are very subtle. They will come up with statements that will make you think and will put doubt in your minds about what is true. For example, there is a college professor named Dr. James Tabor, who resides, I believe in North Carolina. He teaches on religion and holds to the conviction that Jesus never claimed to be God. The reason I bring this up is because Dr. Tabor is an authority on the subject of the Bible. But if you are in his class, he will teach you things that will destroy your faith, and he will teach this subject with such authority that you could be swept into his belief system. This is an example of exposing the teaching of a false teacher. Bringing it to people’s attention who could be affected by this deception is what we are called to do. Now does that give me a right to post on Facebook that Dr. James Tabor is a heretic? Bringing the subject up is one thing. Beating it into the ground and repeating this action ends up undermining my original intention.

   What I am trying to communicate is that we need to be careful. Are we whistle blowing or slandering? We might start out whistle blowing, but if we don’t check out our own hearts, we could end up slandering, and justifying our slander. Not good.

   The church needs some whistle blowing. It is good for the church. We need to be careful though, that we don’t start calling people ‘heretics’ because we have a different theological position than they do (I’m talking about convictions here mainly). There are some doctrines that we are not going to agree with others on (infant baptism, spiritual gifts, election, head coverings, etc.) and it is ok that we have differences in these areas. What is not ok, is when we divide over these issues. I understand that some Christians believe that once a person is a Christian, they won’t battle with sin anymore, so that professing Christian who is battling hard with sin is a false convert. We need to be careful in that too, for we all are going through the process of sanctification, and none of us are going to get it all right, at least while we are on earth. The Bible gives a warning; To him who thinks he stands, let him take heed lest he fall.

  We are so blind to our own sin! Instead of picking on a ‘heretic’ or ‘false teacher’ why don’t we pray for him or her? What is in us that enjoys watching someone doing something wrong, and reporting it to others? Is our goal really to protect the church, or is it to be critical of someone else and justify it?

   Here is a quick test you can do to check your heart on the issue of whistle blowing/slander. Look at the posts you put out on Face Book or Twitter. Take note at the blogs you enjoy reading. What percentage of your posts are 'warnings' about heretics or false teachers? What are the forums or blogs you enjoy reading? Let's guard our hearts and do our part to edify the body of Christ.

   "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." Ephesians 4:29

  

Evangelizing the Homeless - January 12, 2013

  We went out as a group to minister to people downtown, as well as serve food and blankets to the homeless. It was one of the best times I have ever had doing evangelism work. I had no idea what to expect when I went down there. I wasn't even really sure where to park my car!
   When I got there, there was a small group of people gathering. Before long, there was a large group of people who were there to minister and it kept growing. More and more people were coming, and I didn't know who was there to be served or who was doing the serving!
   Tables were set up and moved to another location because there were many items to be given away. I found out that there is a ministry down there many times a week called, "Jesus Loves You, Love Him Back" which caters to people who are homeless. This is like a dream come true. I have always wanted to minister to people who are in hard places. Now the opportunity opened up.
   I felt awkward at first because I was trying to feel out the whole experience and see where I would fit in. There were many people serving at the tables. I was going to be mingling and talking with people, and sharing the Gospel with those who were open to hearing it. As the night went on, I went to a group of people sitting down and started talking with them. As with talking with groups of people, this group, within my voice range, had three people. One appeared apathetic or indifferent. Another continually tried to tell me that he knew where the 10 Commandments were, and that he knew what they were, etc. But the man in the middle was the most interested. He had questions and I let him talk about his life, or whatever he wanted to talk about. Then I would bring the Gospel into our conversation. He was very touched by the Gospel message. He wanted to come to church but has to wait until he can get money and find a bus route that will take him there. He was appreciative of my talking to him and said that I was like a walking Bible. It looks like God is preparing his heart to receive the Gospel. Please pray for him. His name is W.
   I had to go to the other end to get back to my back with tracts and Bibles in it. I wanted to give W. a NT, but when I went back to find him, he had left. I am grateful that God allowed me to talk to W. and I pray that he will repent and turn to Christ. The Bible says that if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. 2 Corinthians 5:17   I pray for others to minister to W. as well.